Far beneath the surface of the tragic drama of Somalia, four major U.S. oil companies are quietly sitting on a prospective fortune in exclusive concessions to explore and exploit tens of millions of acres of the Somali countryside. That land, in the opinion of geologists and industry sources, could yield significant amounts of oil and natural gas if the U.S.-led military mission can restore peace to the impoverished East African nation.

Far beneath the surface of the tragic drama of Somalia, four major U.S. oil companies are quietly sitting on a prospective fortune in exclusive concessions to explore and exploit tens of millions of acres of the Somali countryside. That land, in the opinion of geologists and industry sources, could yield significant amounts of oil and natural gas if the U.S.-led military mission can restore peace to the impoverished East African nation.

The best of Bush--baloney ("The Best of America, the Best of Bush" editorial, Dec. 4)! The notion that only Americans care and can get the job done--baloney! If the U.N. cannot ensure the delivery of food to Somalia then there is no place in the world that it can play a peacekeeping and/or humanitarian role. The "oil" in Somalia is the opportunity to justify Bush's fealty to the weapons-makers he shills for, the opportunity to justify continued bloated defense budgets, the opportunity to continue our disastrous role of military policeman to the whole world.

They are starving in Africa, and in China, and in Russia, my mother used to say. My sister and I, and all my friends whose mothers would tell them the same, didn't quite know what this meant. We didn't intend to take anyone's food. Certainly we would have offered our lima beans and our sweet potatoes to anything with a mouth. And we would have said please. My mother's translation of this little parable was, of course: Eat up, stop whining and be grateful. Or there will be no dessert.

They are starving in Africa, and in China, and in Russia, my mother used to say. My sister and I, and all my friends whose mothers would tell them the same, didn't quite know what this meant. We didn't intend to take anyone's food. Certainly we would have offered our lima beans, and our sweet potatoes, to anything with a mouth. And we would have said please. My mother's translation of this little parable was of course this: Eat up, stop whining and feel grateful. Or there will be no dessert.